


Legacy

by onceuponanevilangel



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 15:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6245119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponanevilangel/pseuds/onceuponanevilangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, a Carter and a black widow had been on opposing sides and decades later, a Carter and a black widow were friends. Maybe there was something to be said for legacy after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legacy

**Author's Note:**

> I just have a lot of feelings about the Carters and their respective black widows. Un-betaed, so I apologize for any mistakes. Feedback is always appreciated!

The first time Sharon met a black widow, she was terrified.

 

She was five years old, coloring on the floor in the corner of Aunt Peggy’s office when the door opened and a tall woman walked in. She was wearing high heels that clicked even louder than Aunt Peggy’s did and Sharon looked up as Aunt Peggy stood to meet her.

 

Sharon could only see the back of the woman’s blonde head, but she was so much taller than Aunt Peggy. Aunt Peggy just crossed her arms and met the woman’s eyes with a steely coldness that sent a shiver down Sharon’s spine.

 

“The mission was successful,” the blonde woman said. She dropped a thick envelope on Aunt Peggy’s desk. “The photos you wanted.”

 

“How many girls?” Aunt Peggy asked.

 

“About a dozen. All of them about her age.” The woman jabbed her thumb towards Sharon without even looking at her and Sharon dropped her blue crayon. It hit the floor and she flinched.

 

Aunt Peggy’s eyes flickered to her for a half second and Sharon looked back down at her coloring book. When she glanced up again, Aunt Peggy was staring the blonde woman down again.

 

“You were due to report two weeks ago,” Aunt Peggy said.

 

“I was _undercover_ , Peggy. Do you know how tough it is to schedule around that? Maybe I’ll buy you lunch to make up for it.”

 

“When I send my agents out on missions, I like to know that they’re safe and completing their missions properly. And I especially don’t like to wonder whether or not one of my agents is slipping back into her old ways.”

 

“And here I thought after almost forty-five years you were just starting to trust me.”

 

“Not on your life.” Aunt Peggy say back down and grabbed the envelope. “They’ll be expecting you down in the briefing room.”

 

“We both know I’m not going down there. Nice try, though.”

 

“It was worth a shot,” Aunt Peggy said. “When will I see you again?”

 

“Oh, I’ll be around,” the blonde woman said. “See you later, Pegs.”

 

“Dottie,” Aunt Peggy replied.

 

The woman turned on her heel and stalked back across the office. Sharon dropped her purpled crayon and it rolled across the floor. Sharon lunged for it, but she froze as she watched it roll to a halt underneath the toe of a black high heel.

 

The blonde woman leaned down to pick it up and looked back at Sharon. She had the bluest eyes Sharon had ever seen and when she smiled, Sharon tensed.

 

“She’s a cutie,” the woman—Dottie—said. “You’ve got quite a legacy to live up to, little one.”

 

Aunt Peggy stood up again. “Stay away from her.”

 

“Whatever you say, Director.” Dottie dropped the crayon back on the floor, straightened up, and grinned at Sharon one final time before click-clacking her way out of the office.

 

“Are you alright, darling?” Aunt Peggy asked, looking over at Sharon.

 

“Mmhm.” Sharon grabbed her purple crayon and pulled her coloring book closer to her. “Who was that?”

 

Peggy sighed. “She’s no one really. Just an old…” she paused. “You might call her a friend.”

 

Sharon just nodded and started coloring again, trying hard to forget how cold and small she felt when Dottie had smiled at her. Whoever that Dottie woman was to Aunt Peggy, she would never be a friend of Sharon’s.

 

* * *

 

 

The second time Sharon met a black widow, she was a little less terrified and even better at hiding it.

 

This time she was nineteen and she was no longer hiding in the corner of Aunt Peggy’s office. Aunt Peggy didn’t even really have an office anymore. She hadn’t had one for years now. It belonged to Nick Fury now and though Sharon knew Fury was really one of the only ones strong enough to follow in Aunt Peggy’s footsteps, she still found herself missing the warmth and hominess that she had always felt when the office had been Aunt Peggy’s.

 

“You don’t have to be the one to do this, you know,” Aunt Peggy says, pausing in front of the door. “This isn’t your responsibility and you—“

 

“I want to,” Sharon said firmly, more to convince herself than Aunt Peggy. There was a part of it that was true, though, when Aunt Peggy had told her that Agent Barton had brought a black widow back to the base with him instead of killing her, Sharon had been intrigued and she had only gotten more interested when she learned that girl was even younger than her.

 

And after all, Sharon _did_ have quite a legacy to live up to.

 

Aunt Peggy looked like she was going to say something else, but she thought better of it and just turned back to the door. She punched in a code and the door slid open to reveal a large bedroom with a big window overlooking the Potomac, a bookshelf stacked with books titled in Cyrillic letters, and a small girl with bright red hair sitting on the bed.

 

“Natalia,” Aunt Peggy said gently. The girl turned and her green eyes landed on Sharon. Her gaze sent shivers down Sharon’s spine, but Sharon just stood up a little straighter and bit the inside of her lip to keep herself focused.

 

“Natalia, this is my niece, Sharon,” Aunt Peggy said.

 

“She looks like you around the eyes,” the girl—Natalia—said in a low voice that was without even the faintest hint of an accent. It sent a shiver up Sharon’s spine that didn’t go unnoticed. “Do I frighten you?” she asked.

 

“Hey,” Peggy warned.

 

“No, it’s fine,” Sharon said. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You don’t actually,” she said. “I’ve met worse.”

 

Natalia stood up and took a half step closer. She was at least a good five inches shorter than Sharon and so thin and there was a thin line of pink white scarring around her left wrist, but she had an air of strength and agility to her like a ballerina.

 

This young girl—barely even a woman yet—had been at the top of the SHIELD wanted list for almost three years. If the stories were to be believed, this girl had been trained since childhood to hunt and to hurt and to bring death.

 

This girl had killed.

 

“You’re scared,” Natalia said, inspecting Sharon’s face and posture. “I can tell. But you hide it well. You’re good.”

 

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Sharon said.

 

Natalia’s lips twitched and she glanced back at Aunt Peggy. “I like her.”

 

“I like you too,” Sharon said.

 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Sharon spun around to see Clint Barton standing there with a pair of sandwiches wrapped in cellophane and a couple of cans of Coke tucked under his arm.

 

“Oh, hey,” he said. “I didn’t realize…I can come back.”

 

“No, Agent Barton, it’s fine,” Aunt Peggy said. “Sharon and I were just leaving anyway.”

 

“Oh. Yeah,” Sharon said. “Right.” She smiled briefly at Natasha before turning and following Aunt Peggy out of the room and back out into the hallway.

 

“Are you still scared of her?” Aunt Peggy asked once they reached the elevator.

 

“A little bit,” Sharon admitted. “But not as much anymore.”

 

“That’s good,” Aunt Peggy said. “A little bit of fear will keep you from making a lot of mistakes.”

 

“Do you think trusting her is a mistake?” Sharon asked.

 

Aunt Peggy hesitated. “I’m not sure yet.”

 

* * *

 

 

Aunt Peggy had told Sharon so many stories of her time with the Dottie over the years, but there was one in particular that had always stood out in Sharon’s mind: how over fifty years ago, Aunt Peggy and a black widow had stood on opposite sides of a room as Aunt Peggy asked Dottie to become one of SHIELD’s first agents.

 

And now, so many years later, Sharon and a black widow were standing on the same side of a marble slab on the side of a grassy hill.

 

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Natasha said quietly.

 

“Thanks,” Sharon said.

 

She knelt down and pressed her hand against the cold stone where Aunt Peggy’s name was carved in bold letters. Sharon set the flowers on the still-young grass and straightened up again.

 

It was silent for a long moment.

 

“You know, I’m still a little scared of you,” Sharon said suddenly.

 

“What?” Natasha asked.

 

“The first time we met you asked me if I was frightened by you and I was and I still am, but I remember Aunt Peggy telling me that fear is a good thing. A little bit of fear keeps you from making a lot of mistakes.”

 

“Come on, don’t go all soft on me now. I thought I only got that from her.” Natasha smirked as she nodded toward the grave, but Sharon could see the tears shining in her eyes.

 

“Hey, now that she’s gone, I’ve got more of a legacy to live up to than ever,” Sharon said, nudging her shoulder against Natasha’s. She wasn’t in the mood for tears anymore. Aunt Peggy wouldn’t have wanted it anyway.

 

“We’ll have time for legacies when we’re dead,” Natasha said.

 

“Come on,” Sharon said. “A Carter and a black widow teaming up to raise hell.”

 

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Natasha asked, her lips twitching upward just the slightest bit.

 

“I don’t know. I think we can figure it out as we go along. That’s pretty much what she did anyway,” Sharon said, jabbing her thumb at the grave.

 

“Fair point.”

 

Sharon set off back down the hill toward the cemetery gates with Natasha close behind her, but then Natasha stopped.

 

“Hey,” she said.

 

“Yeah?” Sharon asked, spinning around to look at Natasha.

 

“You said fear keeps you from making mistakes. Did you ever think that…was trusting me ever a mistake?”

 

“Not once,” Sharon said.

 

Natasha didn’t say anything. She just looked down at the grass and smiled a little bit as Sharon turned back around and headed out of the cemetery.

 

The first time Sharon had met a black widow, she was a terrified little girl coloring in the office of a living legend. Now, as she walked side-by-side with a black widow, she couldn’t help but remember Dottie’s words to her.

 

_You’ve got quite a legacy to live up to, little one._

Once upon a time, a Carter and a black widow had been on opposing sides and decades later, a Carter and a black widow were friends.

 

Maybe there was something to be said for legacy after all.


End file.
